Adam Carolla is tired. Tired of talking about, traveling for and thinking on the patent lawsuit over his podcast that has now been going on for about a year and a half. He’d rather be working.

“I’m supposed to be in an edit bay working on an independent movie that I’m directing or working on my podcast instead of talking to you,” he told Mashable in a phone interview.

“No offense,” he added.

None taken.

The 50-year-old comedian and media personality made headlines recently when he declined an offer that included dismissal of the case by the plaintiff, a company called Personal Audio. Why, it stood to reason, would someone being sued decline to dismiss a lawsuit?

Carolla’s efforts over the past 18 months aren’t a struggle to end the case. He could have settled and saved money on legal bills, but he has said he wants to stand up to a patent troll.

“Either the lawsuit is dropped and the patent is made invalid or we go to court. We didn’t come this far to go, ‘Oh you’re going to let us off the hook, but you can sue Joe Rogan or Marc Maron next week,” he said.

In February 2013, Personal Audio filed suit against Carolla’s company, Ace Broadcasting, claiming that his podcast, one of the most popular on iTunes, infringed on patent #8,112,504 B2. The company’s only business is patent licensing, and it has brought suit against a variety of companies including Apple and Sirius XM, among others. Carolla is not the only podcaster that Personal Audio has gone after. Maron, who Carolla referenced, has received a letter from them as have NBC and CBS.

Patent lawsuits are routinely settled to avoid the high cost of litigation. Even a successful defense can be a detrimental financial blow. Patent holders know this, and what has emerged is the so-called patent troll. Patent trolls use patents to put pressure on companies to settle out of court.

Carolla hopes to put a dent in that figure by making an example of Personal Audio. His hope is that he can invalidate Personal Audio's patent. Carolla has sought a review by a patent examiner. Carolla's crowd-based efforts — he has raised more than $600,000 so far — may have also helped establish a model for fighting patent trolls. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is also going after the patent with the help of funding from donations.

Personal Audio’s offer to drop its suit came with strings attached, he said. While Carolla can only discuss so much of the ongoing case, he said the terms were something he could not agree to. Personal Audio can drop its lawsuit at any time, but Carolla would not have to drop his countersuit unless it became part of a deal.

“They've not said, ‘Mr. Carolla, may we just drop the lawsuit,’” he said. “They have said, ‘we will drop the lawsuit and then here are some conditions that are attached to us dropping the lawsuit.’ And our answer to that is: no conditions. If you want to drop it, you can drop it.”

Personal Audio issued a press release that did not absolve Carolla of any wrongdoing. Instead it said that Carolla’s company did not make enough money for the lawsuit to be worth it. It claimed that it has dropped other lawsuits against Togi Net and How Stuff Works as well.

The release went on to insinuate that Carolla refused to dismiss the case because he had found success raising money for it.

“The fact of the matter is that Adam Carolla is asking people to donate money to him for a lawsuit that he no longer needs to defend. We would like his listeners to understand this situation when deciding whether or not to donate additional money to his cause,” Brad Liddle, CEO of Personal Audio, said in the press release.

Carolla said that his personal expenses on the trial have hit six figures. “There’s no slush fund,” he said.

And even if Personal Audio were to just drop the case, he’s not sure if would be enough to stop him from pursuing the patent invalidation.

“I don’t know if they came to me tomorrow and said hey we're going to drop this lawsuit, no strings attached... I don’t know what my answer would be for that. It's been such a long slog.”

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